Tiger Woods Disappoints with Mediocre First Round at Players Championship

Who are you, and what have you done with the real Tiger Woods?

Surely, those remain the questions that dance through golf fans' minds every time Tiger misses a putt or slices a shot off the tee.

He didn't have any answers on Thursday at the The Players Championship, shooting a 2-over-par 74 for the day. Instead, he simply had the following to say (via Steve DiMeglio of USA TODAY):

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"It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots," Woods said. "It wasn't certainly the most positive start. Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole.

"It was just one of those days."

"

He's had a lot of those days in the past two years. He had them at The Masters, when the popular belief was that the old Tiger was about to return.

Something is just off in Tiger's game. Is he looking too hard for ways to regain his old form? Is he too far in his head? Has he simply lost all of his confidence?

And will we ever see the old Tiger again?

That's all we have left with Tiger Woods now—questions.

We used to have answers. Who is the player every golfer fears on the Sunday at every major tournament?

Tiger.

Who will surpass Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 career major championships?

Tiger.

Who is the most iconic athlete the world has seen since Michael Jordan?

Tiger.

Now, we have a Tiger Woods bogeying five holes in the first round. A Tiger Woods unable to dominate par-5 holes as he once did. A Tiger Woods watching shots that once would have settled in prime locations bounce away into poor positions.

This version of Tiger Woods can't even seem to have luck fall on his side.

Another day, another round of questions surrounding the once-elite game of Tiger Woods. If his game doesn't improve, something terrible might happen.

The questions will stop, and the answer will become simple: Tiger Woods simply isn't a great golfer anymore, and he never will be again.

I don't want that to be the answer.

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